Leave power amp on? (1 Viewer)

[Yoon Lee]

I recently got Rotel 1075 power amp. It's got power switch, and I'm wondering if I should leave it on while I'm not using the amp or turn it off. Any ideas?

 

[Greg Haynes]

Yoon,

Your probably going to hear different sides on this topic so I guess I'll go first.

My opinion, just leave it on unless your going away for awhile. I leave my Samson S1000 on 24/7 and I plan to do the same once I get my Parasound 1205A.

I've read that turning it on and off causes alot of strain on the amp which it turn shortens the life of the amp. You will also hear about the issues with amps heating up then cooling down and then heating back up, and so on and so on by turning it off and on.

Basically it is one less hassle you need to worry about.

 

[Bill Bradstreet]

I have a pair of LeAmps, and I've chosen the 'leave it on' route too. I only turn it off when nobody will be listening for more than a few days.

I'm lucky in that my receiver doesn't produce any popping when I turn the receiver off. But, normally, I just leave the receiver on as well.

 

[Chas_T]

Yoon,
You have openend up a can of worms here, which is a good thing. I leave my three seperate power amps on 24/7 too, unless I am going away on holiday for an extended period of time. A good surge protector/power conditioner is also something else to consider in this area in my opinion.
Electronics generally fail in my experience when they are powered on and off alot. Another opinion is if you turn them on, just shut them off when its time for sleep.
If I power up on any electronics, PC, TV, some Audio Equipment, excluding my microwave/oven, I leave them on until it's time for bed.
That's my two cents.

 

[Chu Gai]

whatever you feel like. myself, i'm a conservationist type of person and i turn it off.

 

[Ron-P]

I have 3 Adcom's. I shut them down as well as everything else in my HT. I'm one of those, if I'm not using it, it does not need to be on.
Weather it pro-longs or shortens the life of electronics will be debated until the end of time.
Peace Out~

 

[Michael Mathius]

Mine's on all the time. But I did connect a small fan to my receiver which sits on the amp and only comes on when I'm using the receiver.

 

[ling_w]

My 2ch amp sucks 600w at idle, I can't leave it on all the time or else my electric bill will run sky high.

I am leaving it on this week though, to burn in 2 pairs of 4ohm speakers paralleled to the amp. that's 25volts into each channel, so it is pumping out 600watts 24/7, probably not consuming much more than idle.

 

[Michael Lee]

I leave my 5 channel amp on all the time. I have my amp underneath my home theater...it is wired through the floor to the basement. It would be quite inconvenient to run down the stairs just to power up one component.

 

[Oliver]

Actually the big waste of energy that is propagated by some here really make me shake my head. Electricity must be really cheapo in the US and or no one of you guys even thinks one minute about the result of your acting. Anyone already heard that electricity is to be produced and there for resources are needed and that by producing electricity the pollution is increasing and so on.

The top answer here:

leave my 5 channel amp on all the time. I have my amp underneath my home theater...it is wired through the floor to the basement. It would be quite inconvenient to run down the stairs just to power up one component.

 

[Mike_T_]

Oliver, I agree. Water, Electricity, and fresh air are taken for granted in this country. If it's not expensive, people don't mind wasting it.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I have three receivers in my HT and I leave them on under the assumption that they can't burn more than a few cents worth of power while not driving speakers. Am I wrong here?

 

[Oliver]

I have three receivers in my HT and I leave them on under the assumption that they can't burn more than a few cents worth of power while not driving speakers. Am I wrong here?

Carl sorry if I take your question for an absolute prove how people think all over the world. Of course this is because they do not know, or do not want to know. Either way those are Millions!
Those few cents Carl are more like some real hard earn Dollars over the year. Not to speak about the pollution and waste you have just taken responsibility of. And like you, and this is where it stops to be funny, millions of people are acting.
The air you breathe right now, I am pretty sure your children and their children might want to have some also in the years to come.
Now do not understand me wrong, I have a HT too, and some pretty nice and big amps too. Life must be fun and my HT belongs to this. And I think this is OK until you really use those resources and do not waste them for nothing.
After watching a film I always do shut of everything.

 

[ChrisAG]

Yeah, North Americans are the worst in the world when in comes to wasting energy. Just look at all the ridiculous gas-guzzling, smog producing SUVs clogging our highways.

I try to only 'cycle' my components a maximum of once per day, and always turn my HT components off at the end of the evening.

My computer is another matter - I leave it on 24/7 in 'power saver' mode. PCs are more sensitive to on/off cycles due to the moving parts i.e. hard drives.

 

[Zbigniew]

While talking to Parasound about my 1500, I asked how much juice it will burn while idling "Oh, about 100w...); thne I asked how long from cold start to nicely warmed up unit; 3-5 minutes.

Since I hate leaving lights on in empty room, I turn Paradigm off - but not manually; that what 12V trigger + X-10 is for.

_zjt

 

[Todd Hochard]

I say turn it off. It's a significant waste of resources to do otherwise, IMO.

My Denon AVR-3300 (Receiver) consumes 50W at idle. Left on 24/7, that's 36KW-hrs/month, or about $4 in electricity. Just for that one component. If you live in a warm climate, as I do, that 50W is waste heat, which has to be removed by the AC system.
Bump it up a notch- let's say I own three Bryston 4B's for my six channel setup. Per Bryston's web site, each amp consumes 186W at idle. Left on 24/7, that's 401KW-hrs in a month. For comparison, this would be akin to leaving NINE 60W lights in your house on all the time.
For reference, my last month's electric bill, with my wife and daughter home all day, AC at 78/77 day/night, all electric appliances, in hot, humid, Central FL was 1325KW-hrs. Leaving the Brystons (or similar higher end amps) on all the time would add 33% to my bill, and untold tons (literally) of waste CO2/sulphur to the atmosphere.

And, Power amps are among the least sensitive devices to current surges at power up.

In summary, if it's being USED, then USE it all you want. But, I'm saddened by the wastefulness of leaving unused equipment (including those who refuse to use the sleep modes on their CPUs and Monitors- about 125W between the two!) on all the time.

Todd

P.S. Those Brystons come with 20 year warranties, whether you power cycle them or not. It shows just how worried they are about it.

 

[LCSeminole]

Absolute waste of our resources, turn it off if your not using it.

 

[Kevin. W]

When it comes to my hard earned $$$, I try to save as much as possible where ever I can. When not in use my system is off.
Kevin

 

[Michael Lee]

So the original question pertained to whether or not the person should leave it on or off. The logical thing this would lead to is criticizing North Americans and their ignorance of pollution and waste.

I did not elaborate on my previous post but since I received a quote of the top answer here, I will. My amplifier in the basement is relatively inaccessible...getting to it would require much maneuvering through a crawl space. I tried the 12V trigger with it but there was a problem where it would work only intermittently.

Any more accusations or generalizations?

 

[Mark Austin]

Leave it all on, all the time. It's not a waste of resources. And even the guise of conservation is a complete ruse, and a joke. Those who think they are conserving anything are sadly mistaken.